I doubt if the Jim Wilson that started Pipestone was the Stoney Point Jim Wilson, since the Pipestone founder (who is another Jim Wilson) grew up north of Butte and first started a climbing shop there, before expanding to Missoula. I'm sure of his name, since I worked with him as a outdoor gear sales-rep from day one. He sold the store a few years back to a Bozeman-based Nabob, who closed it in the 2008 recession.

Fritz, Wow! That would be a coincidence. It sure doesn't ring the bells it should, but I look for first signs of dementia, in myself and others! HaHa! That is challenging for climbers since there is already a high background level of the stuff.

I'm looking at a lot of the photos on this thread, and to me, many of them feature rock that falls far below my standard for choss. But just how does one quantify "chossiness"? I'd suggest using the average density, as measured by combined length of cracks (fractures) per area of rock. So if you took a square meter of rock surface and measured the length of all of the cracks in that square meter and got 1 meter of fractures, that would not be so chossy as compared to say 5 or 6 meters of fractures. By this criteria, the rock in the photo below blows away most anything I've seen on here. Basically any piece of rock will move if a bit of force is applied to it - truly world class choss...

Gotta love Columbia River basalt entablature - that columnar stuff is for choss-avoiding wimps. You're lucky over there on the west side, you have all that moss to hold it in place... Here's a shot of some REAL climbers braving the über-chossy basalt entablature of Wallula Gap.

good deal. that's how the cults pull you in. first the good climbs, then the crappy ones with stories of stance and drilling, bravery and boldness, but in the end you're drinking light beer in the shade of some oatmeal pasted adobe mud brick piece of a climb. It's not too late to turn back. ;)